PRimary tactic

As the Nevada primary spelled the end of Jeb Bush’s candidacy, I remained fascinated by a tweet he posted just days earlier, first for its content, second for its feedback, and third for the tactic’s anemic impact.

The former Florida governor posted a photo of a handgun with “Gov. Jeb Bush” engraved on it, with the simple caption “America.”

Was this tweet an attempt to get much-needed attention as his campaign faced extinction? Was is designed to reinforce his relationship with GOP conservatives, gun owners and the National Rifle Association? Bush told a reporter, “The purpose was we went to a gun manufacturing facility where lots of jobs are created, high-wage jobs. And I received a gun and I was honored to have it.”

The Twitter feedback was on one hand predictably supportive and on the other hand predictably angry. The Brady Campaign, a gun safety lobbying group, tweeted, “America. Where #gunviolence kills 33,000 people per year. Thanks for the reminder @JebBush.” The NRA tweeted “America” accompanied by a graphic of the Bill of Rights. Lauren Olin posted “America” with a photo of a crying mother outside Sandy Hook Elementary School. Glenn Greenwald re-tweeted the photo and added, “Ponder all the psychological anxieties and insecurities that would cause someone to post this.”

Eight months ago, Jeb Bush seemed destined to become the third family member to lead a presidential ticket. But a candidate must connect to voters by using the power of words, images, ideas, and the projection of leadership. Bush’s primary numbers had remained in single digits despite spending tens of millions of dollars. Obviously, his campaign became desperate for attention, and so this potentially controversial image and caption was tweeted to grab headlines. However, it was too late. The tweet barely received coverage because interest in his campaign had become about as strong as his poll numbers.

Unlike his father and brother, Jeb Bush was unable to break through the competition by communicating effectively, despite well thought-out, realistic positions on major issues. This last ditch effort, a controversial publicity stunt to gain attention, was clearly as ineffective. Your thoughts?

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52 thoughts on “PRimary tactic”

While I personally think that this tweet was unnecessary and uncalled for, especially in the midst of recent gun violence and mass shootings, it is not the craziest thing we have seen during this campaign season. This year Republicans have been doing whatever is necessary to connect with conservatives and evangelical voters, as a way to get ahead. Jeb Bush tried to prove to the world how conservative he is through this tweet, and tried to alter his campaign to be like others, but in the end it proved unsuccessful.

It’s funny how quickly a post on social media intended to be taken seriously can become a parody. I was first brought to the attention of his tweet after seeing countless people on my timeline tweeting “America.” with an accompanying image that didn’t seem to make sense. I looked to the trending topics to see what this could be about and was thus led back to Jeb’s original tweet, which truly shocked me when I first saw it. While he may be trying to appeal to a specific conservative demographic, I feel this post is incredibly alienating as an aspiring presidential candidate. It is a sensitive subject that people feel very strongly about each way, so in that sense he was really rolling the dice with a controversial topic. It worked if all they cared about generating was a fleeting social buzz, but I feel it was worthless in that it failed to be carried over into a serious discussion about an important topic in our country. Nobody could take him seriously at this point in his campaign and this attempt at shock value did nothing to help him. This post left Jeb and his campaign open to such mockery that it can overshadow an original message.

Strictly from a PR perspective I feel like the post did exactly what he intended. He wanted to create a buzz and he succeeded in doing so regardless of the response from the audience. The tweet was all over the internet and was also covered in other media. Although too late in his campaign I feel he succeeded in doing what he wanted to execute.

I think Jeb was attempting to appeal to a niche within the conservative party in hopes that it might revitalize his campaign, but he failed to realize that the majority of the Republican party and the majority of Americans in general are more receptive to moderates. Taking an extremist stance on gun control really just dissuaded the target audiences he should have been trying to reach from voting from him.

When I saw that tweet, I was absolutely appalled. Whichever communication strategist that came up with the tweet or even told Jeb that it was a fine idea, should be fired. Jeb took into consideration his Republican audience; but at the end of the day, when running for the presidency of the United States, it is about “America”–and all of its encompassing groups. Although he was running for the Republican nomination, communications efforts like this can come back to haunt you in the presidential campaign. So, this was an overall bad move, Jeb. The Brady Campaign’s tweet was very clever and realistically reflects many American’s concerns. There is a clear problem with gun violence in this country and Jeb’s tweet didn’t take that into consideration, which I believe only added damage to his campaign. Perhaps it was a last minute tweet of desperation to get some media coverage, but it failed to garner the attention he wanted and instead resulted in negative reactions. Great job, Jeb.

I think a lot of times people do use this tactic to gain attention, however, when doing so it is silly to expect everyone to respond positively. In regards to Jeb Bush, his attempt not only came too late in his campaign but was also very hurtful to many, and in my opinion not well thought out.

I think it’s very bold that he posted this image with this caption. Him and his team definitively knew the negative and positive feedback he would get. I believe the purpose of this post was to get people talking about him. I don’t think it was a smart PR move because the post is offensive and not professional.

I think he is an idiot. This last cry for attention, epic failure. I truly get why he did this stunt but, just why? Bow out in stride not stupidity! I believe his fate was decided long before he started out. Maybe next time!

I think the challenge that’s confronted Jeb is likened to an organization that has lost its reputation and trust before their customers, and is trying to ‘woo’ back their customers by marketing another sales… Until said company fails to gain back reputation and trust from its customers, they can never successfully sell to them, no matter the PR strategies or methods used.

American voters are still ‘angry’ with George’s past administration, and “they can’t afford to have another Bush, be he George or Jeb,” one Republican once told me.

In spite of the fact that majority of Americans want to keep their guns, and hence, any of these Presidential candidates most likely to ‘win their love’, Jeb couldn’t succeed with the ‘gospel’ because “Americans are still angry with his brother, George, and hence, can simply not afford to have another Bush.

Not a good move, Jeb. I understand that his target audience is conservative. However, his PR team should have realized that any post can go viral, and that the bigger audience (our country) has a serious ongoing issue with gun violence. This tweet just does not appeal with the masses at all.

I think it’s a little unfortunate to see Jeb go this way. He’s spent a lot of the campaign attempting to talk about real issues, while watching Trump’s numbers go up with each incendiary comment. It seems as though his team finally realized that they would have to switch tactics to get attention. The only problems were that it was too late in the campaign to try a new tactic, the media had already lost interest in him unless it was a piece about how sad his rally was, and there was no substance or context here. If he had put out a statement at the same time as releasing the photo instead of waiting for people to get angry and confused and then trying to clear it up afterwards,he might have gotten some more airplay. I don’t think it would have improved his numbers at this point, but in a year where Trump is set to take home a whole lot of delegates on Super Tuesday, anything is possible.

A tactic like this has clearly been working for Trump; go out and say something outlandish and reap the benefits of all the comments, both negative and positive.
I believe he is attempting to try any last ditch effort to regain some kind of support and keep his campaign and message in the minds of the people. However, once traction is lost and your message and persona become a thing of the past, it is hard to come back from that.
Good riddance though. Too bad it couldn’t have been Trump.

In my opinion, I believe Jeb was on the right track for trying to grab attention via social media, but it was a bit to late. Also, it really wasn’t a smart post given the controversial topic of gun control in America. This was a move of desperation and overall a bad PR move for Jeb.

The gun control have long been a contentious issue. Jeb Bush used the sensitive topic to get noticed and finally gain political objectives. Facts proved that it is unwise to adopt this practice. It happens that there is a similar case. Last year, Starbucks launched a campaign that baristas of Starbucks served their consumers to hand cups with the words “Race Together” and started to discuss about race. As a result, Starbucks received tons of poor reviews. This illustrates that when a controversial issue is related to a country’s culture and society, it is worth think deeply how to utilize the hot potato to accomplish goals.

Going into the South Carolina primary, it was pretty obvious that Jeb Bush was not going to win. Unfortunately for him, it seems as though the Bush legacy has played against him throughout his entire candidacy. I think in part, maybe Jeb Bush did this as a final statement and hope to bring awareness and support to something he deemed to be important.

Since Jeb Bush became a candidate he didn’t get much publicity, say like Trump or even Sanders. I don’t think his campaign would have gone far because of the past Bush’s. There is actually an article in the Washington Times titled “With Jeb gone, media declares ‘Bush dynasty’ over but son George P. Bush could prove them wrong.” It was an interesting, short article I just wanted to share. I also think guns are an issue in America, but I don’t understand why some people are so defensive about gun control. It is called gun control, not take away all guns.

I don’t think that Jeb Bush’s failure to achieve the republican candidacy had to do with his inability to communicate. Instead, I think it was the negative reputation attributed to the Bush brand and the public’s inability to shake the fear of another “Bush” from their minds. He was unable to distinguish himself from his predecessors and I think him bowing out of the presidential race is indicative of another problem regarding PR, that it is vital for a brand to have a strong foundational reputation in order to achieve success. Jeb Bush was running solely on his last name, a very dangerous PR practice that set him up for failure. When a brand is reliant solely on a tarnished reputation, there is no strong foundation on which to rebuild once the structure crumbles.

I attended this year’s presidential primaries in New Hampshire and had the chance to attend a Bush town hall meeting. I was impressed by his messaging and thought he was much more in tune with his audience than the other republican candidates. He is a great communicator and his messages come across as genuine, at least in person. Do I think that the tweet above was a last chance to gain coverage for his campaign? Perhaps. But the reason he lost the race is not because of his inability to communicate effectively.

I think that Jeb failed to connect with the people. His brother’s failures as president had a negative effect on his campaign. He had to try very hard to move out of Bush Jr’s shadow. His tweet was a tactic to try to engage people in a Trump-like style. Trump is notorious for sparking controversy and it seems that is what this tweet is trying to do, especially with gun control as such a pressing matter.

I had not seen this tweet and think it was really interesting that he would do this. On the one hand, it makes sense he would try and do this to connect with conservatives who are more likely to be in favor of owning guns but on the other hand, something as controversial as this had a very small chance of being effective.

I believe Jeb Bush was just trying to cause more of a controversity when tweeting his “America ” tweet. From a PR view I felt that it was just a little to late for him to try and make this agrurment and get attention for his voters. I believe he should have made more of an effort in a variety of ways.

I think here Jeb was trying to make a Donald Trump-type of move, by doing something highly controversial, but also something that would get his name in everyone’s mouth. But instead, like you said, Bush’s campaign had such little steam that it came and went very quickly.

Also, with the persona Bush has put out, most of the responses to the tweet that I saw were people making jokes at his expense. A total failure on his end.

I think that the intent to appeal to headlines with his “America.” tweet was apparent. I do not believe it was the best method to grab attention by tweeting something so controversial. Unfortunately for his PR plan, it is true that most voters were long uninterested by that point. I think that Jeb should have found a better way to draw in voters way earlier in the race.

I think it was a smart tactic to use twitter and social media to grab the attention of viewers, but he used it in the wrong way. Even if he used a clear and positive image, like you said, it was too late for him anyway. The topic of guns has always been a hard topic due to the different strong opinions on it. If he wanted to grab the attention of his viewers he could have done it in a much different way. His use of PR was poor and so was his campaign.

I commend him for using twitter, but his words are what put him in danger. I think instead of putting just “America,” he should have put more thought into the caption. Everything he explained to the reporter? He probably should have put that into the caption instead.

In my opinion, Jet Bush shouldn’t post that image and words on his tweet during the campaign time. Before he did this, his team and himself should realize that one coins has two sides. They should consider carefully when the negative thing happened. PR person should take any emergency actions to decrease the bad effect. They should delete the reviews as soon as possible. And explain why Jet Bush say this. They must persuade the public believe “American” is a good thing, I think.

I think it is very interesting that Jeb Bush decided to post this tweet. Not only does it add to his poorly run campaign, but It was also drew a lot of very bad attention to him. I do not think he should be posting pictures of guns with the caption “America” when so many people have been hurt and affected by gun violence. It was very bad PR on his part and it is good that he is no longer in the presidential race.

I think Jeb Bush was stating that even though he isn’t in the presidential election anymore he still wants to bring attention to the issues that are being addressed by the other candidates, such as gun violence. I didn’t take offensive to this photo because Jeb bush comes from a background where guns aren’t looked at as a weapon or dangerous they are a part of life and are used for hunting. The gun issue has become very sensitive because they are getting into the hands of people who shouldn’t be allowed to handle them. I think his point was to gain awareness of protection not of violence. Many states do have the right to carry a gun and other states are debating passing that law as well for safety concerns. It is a sticky situation when you have so many people who have different view points on such a big deal such as gun violence..and it is still a major issue with the remaining candidates debates. Whether it was effective or not I think his campaigning could have been stronger and caught more attention such as this photo.

I do not closely follow politics, but I have briefly seen news coverage on where the candidates are in the polls. Since entering the run for presidency Jeb Bush did not have much of a presence nor the numbers to back him. I do think his post was to fuel additional media coverage and to give him some sort of an edge. I also think guns are an issue in America, there should be stricter gun laws, better screening for purchasers of fire arms and better tactics of getting illegal guns off the street. If Jeb wanted to make a statement, perhaps his angle should have aligned with the issues America is really facing when it comes to gun violence. Perhaps if he were better at structuring his message early on in an effective way, he would be in a better position in the polls.

In terms of gun control, the guns aren’t the actual problem…its what the guns are actually being used for. This tweet honestly kills me because I believe that former governor Jeb was just seeking attention. However, maintaining a clean reputation and building notable relationships with various publics is what PR is all about!!! Statistics and public feedback both exemplify the fact that there are so many people who are against gun control. Therefore, as a political and powerful figure, the last thing that the American people need to see is a political figure tweeting about how honored he was to receive a fatal weapon.

This just was not a smart decision for the former governor to make because the tweet comes across as a cry for attention. He would have been more successful in his run if he would have zoomed into various target audiences and focused on what was most important to them and what they wanted to change within their community. Credibility and getting the public to trust anyone is difficult. However, honesty, sincerity, and hard work are all essentials that will lead to a trustworthy relationship with the public. An audience can tell when someone is not being authentic or is performing irrelevant actions to gain attention.

I agree that he just posted this as a last effort to be seen and recognized for candidacy. His post was a pathetic cry for attention. Well he got attention, but not the kind he wanted. Although he didn’t even get as much attention as he thought he would. It was very ignorant of him to post this photo especially with his name engraved into the gun. It went downhill from the tweets he received back. Even the bad PR didn’t push him to be recognized as a powerful figure. Not to mention how tired i am of the Bush family, and he just made their family name worse.

Although I am not too looped into politics, this was a pretty foolish move on Jeb’s part and showcases that he simply wanted attention for his campaign. I believe he saw the opportunity to get some attention and jumped but he should have thought about the effect it would have on him. Jeb should have also consulted with his PR individual for solid feedback on how this may play out.

It is very obvious that this was a last stitch effort by Jeb Bush to call attention to his failing presidential campaign. If he wanted to appeal to the conservatives, he should have done it differently. Gun control is an extremely sensitive and controversial topic right now and posting a picture of a gun with the caption “America.” was a poor decision. Is this what he thinks America is all about? Was he trying to instigate a major debate about guns just to call attention to himself? Ultimately, his plan backfired because he has officially suspended his presidential campaign, making this stunt looked even more desperate.

I agree that Jeb Bush was trying to desperately garner attention to his campaign with that tweet; and he was successful to extent because it got us (and twitter) talking about it at least however the affects of it just lasted one day. Jeb was supposed to be a shoe in but I believe Trump stole his thunder with his bossy, tough guy narrative- that is not Jeb at all. I think Jeb wanted to stay away from turning into a Trump or resort to bigotry as many of the other republican candidates did. I think he had to be pretty desperate for attention to stoop this low to be on par with his competitors.

As the above comment alluded to, Jeb was making a last ditch effort to appeal to that conservative position, and you have to appreciate that effort, but it was clearly too little, too late. I’m not a political person, but I’ve followed the most basic portions on the election and watched it develop in recent months. It’s definitely safe to say that no one cares what Jeb Bush had to say days before his campaign folded on one tweet, when candidates like Clinton and Trump have been making controversial comments, and posting controversial pictures, and videos as obvious publicity stunts, but it’s been this consistency of stunts that have kept them in the public eye, and kept people on their toes for what’s to come.

This was definitely an attempt to garner some attention for his dwindling campaign. I believe this was Jeb Bush reaching out to the hardcore gun supporting members of the GOP while maybe ruffling a few feathers, but his campaign was already lifeless by the time he decided to take this route. I believe this has to do with the nature of this particular campaign in general. About two weeks ago, there was an interesting discussion on msnbc on why Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump seemed to be doing so well even though they are both seen as having controversial ideas. The response was something to effect of people are tired of politics as usual, and they are looking for someone completely different, on both the democratic and republican sides. I believe this is why Jeb Bush was not doing as well as he could have with republican voters versus if he had ran for the nomination a few years ago. I also believe this is why he made this post on Twitter. If this had come from Trump it most likely would have created a much larger stir. Not just because his campaign is a hot button topic right now, but because it is in line with his campaign tactics and the messages he has put out from day one, whereas this seems strange coming from Jeb Bush. Jeb has been a quieter candidate, not as prominent on social media or as controversial. When communicating with audiences, it is important to disseminate consistent messages, this is in timing and in content. In a way, each of these candidates has branded themselves from the moment they decided to run for their party’s ticket and began debating / rallying. Veering off from your already established brand or image in a disingenuous and inconsistent way is probably not an effective method in the middle of a campaign, especially if it isn’t going well.

An ambiguous post like this can definitely get people talking. Like the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”, whether the caption is a statement or an addressing, the picture does the rest of the talking. The only shame is that this was near the dying moments of his campaign.

I understand that Jeb was trying to attract attention considering he has complained in the past about the media not covering all candidates equally. I also understand what feelings he was aiming for, no pun intended. What he fails to realize is what negative thoughts and feelings it brings; as a young black college student, I immediately see a white man in power with a gun. Clearly POC in this country don’t have positive experiences with that particular combination… so it evokes negative thoughts and feelings toward him, regardless of what his other political stances are. Overall it was a terrible PR move and I’m not at all surprised by it.

I honestly think this was such a distasteful move on Jeb Bush’s part. There are so many other ways to gain publicity. Interestingly, in my reading for this week’s Corporate PR class, the chapter we were assigned to read discusses how stories with sex, violence, and drama seem to be the default option because they “sell better.” The author of the book argues that stories with a humanistic, real approach are better and gain real trust and I completely agree. I think Jeb saw an opportunity to grab some quick attention, but was never really thinking about his long term strategies for communication.

I think that leading up to South Carolina this tweet had absolutely no affect on Jeb’s polls going into the primary. As low as his numbers were before, they didn’t fluctuate much after – however, he did run a very poor campaign, which was terminated. Aside from his numbers staying the same, let us remember that a majority of conservatives voting in S.C. are most likely pro-gun, making this tweet appealing. This tweet was probably a big turn off to democrats, but they weren’t the ones voting. Had this been a general election and he was running against a democrat instead of his fellow pro-gun conservatives, then this tweet would have definitely had a larger impact on his campaign.

I would have to agree with the general consensus that Jeb was making a last ditch effort to gain a following for his campaign. Although his tweet did generate some talk, it was not the type he was hoping for. I do not think this specific tweet was the right way to go about boosting his campaign, especially when it dealt with such a sensitive topic. Leaving a photo with a one word caption open for interpretation as a way to raise his numbers in the polls was not a smart PR move for his campaign.

Whoever Jeb Bush’s PR manager is should be fired. His post was clearly an epic fail to try to gain attention to his campaign. Jeb Bush should be extremely careful of every message he gives the public due to his family’s reputation. As most of us know, his father and brother were former presidents of our nation. His brother, George Bush, didn’t have the best reputation due to the 9/11 attack, and how it was handled; which led to repercussions our nation still suffers from due to the “War on Terror.”

Therefore, if I were Jeb Bush or his PR manager, I would base my campaign on positive attitudes and images, reflecting on how the majority of our nation feels about important issues and topics of concern. A true leader should be someone who has their people’s best interests on their political agenda(s), and most importantly makes their people feel safe.

Newsflash Jeb Bush: your brother, George Bush, supposedly received warnings about a terrorist attack prior to the 9/11 tragedy; whether that is true or not, nonetheless, you out of all presidential candidates should be striving to make the U.S feel most secure. Therefore, please take this as a lesson learned and do not post pictures representative of potential danger with your name engraved on it, that’s bad PR!

I was surprised that Jeb Bush would agree to post a photo of gun on Twitter. Gun control is always a sensitive topic here. Recently there was a news on Peter Liang, a Chinese policer, who happened to be the first NYPD cop to be convicted for a police-involved shooting in a decade. It raise up the issues on gun usage again. At this sensitive period, i do not think it is a good idea to attract people’s attention with such inappropriate topic. We should focus on more how to build positive and trustworthy image, instead of just getting coverage.

I think this would have been a good publicity stunt if he posted it near the beginning of the primary’s. This is a controversial issue that needs to be discussed and the fact that he put “America” as his caption really gave people the freedom to comment their thoughts on gun control in America. I do not know much about Jed Bush either, but that is because of the other candidates have much more publicity than him. It was a great try on his part to get people talking about him, but it was a little to late.

I don’t know too much about Jeb Bush, but I do know that the caption for that tweet was a little on the unnecessary side. It clearly sparked a bit of uproar, which ultimately can affect Bush’s reputation. Perhaps Bush should have double checked with his PR person before posting that tweet.

When I saw this on Facebook last week I was sort of taken aback. If Jeb Bush posted that picture for attention, he certainly got it. Unfortunately, it was the wrong attention. I truly do think that he was just trying to show that he is a real republican with conservative views. It is our constitutional right for us to be able to bare arms, but it is such a controversial topic now of days that posting this photo was not the smartest choice. Also, captioning it “America” gives the impression that America is all about guns and violence when it is not. In fact, we’re trying to control our guns and violence. I just think this tweet was very insensitive.

I think that this was a bit of a dumb move on Jeb’s part. The coverage he got was basically nonexistent because his polling numbers were so low. I believe that he thought this would give him a boost, but when the negative reaction was just as strong as the positive one, it really just cancelled the other out. I think there were better ways Jeb could have gotten good PR.

I think that Jeb Bush tweeting this was truly an attempt to draw attention to his failing campaign as a very last minute effort. However, his attempt was too controversial and tried too late in his campaign following failure after failure that there simply was not much of a point towards tweeting this. I understand being that he is conservative and is expressing his right to own a handgun, however, I think it draws more negative attention towards him rather than good and I feel that Jeb Bush should’ve left the race a little more peacefully than attempting to make these last minute efforts to gain attention to his campaign.

Well, I’m not going to say that he didn’t know what he was getting into when he posted that picture, because he knows how controversial of a topic gun control is. My guess is he did it as a one last attempt to get attention for his campaign, but I think it was a poor move on his part. Gun control is such a radical topic that no matter what viewpoint Bush takes on it, he’ll very much be criticized for it. His votes were already down, and after a move like this one, I’m not surprised that Bush is out of the presidential race.

This act seems like one of such stupidity, for lack of a better word. I do understand his intentions, which probably were to gain some attention and maybe even build up more of a following for his campaign. However, it makes absolutely no sense to pick such a controversial topic. Especially now, gun control is an extremely sensitive topic. Why pick something that you know a fair majority of the public has a strong stance on? As the article mentioned, there have been shootings such as Sandy Hook that even years later we are grappling to come to terms with. So how can you flaunt a weapon knowing the damage it has done and lives it has taken? This was a poor PR move and I’m glad that he is no longer in the presidential race.

Jeb was just trying to appeal to the conservative wing, a last ditch attempt at winning popularity. But it probably does reflect and ignorance by some in the GOP, of the dangers of an encouragement of a culture in which guns can be so easily accessed. I will say that I do to an extent admire the American ideology of individualism, which manifests through the right to bear arms, but I don’t think lethal weapons should be encouraged in this kind of way.

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ABOUT ME

I'm an associate professor at Hofstra University and director of Hofstra's graduate program in public relations. For 27 years I held corporate, nonprofit, government, agency, and academic PR positions before doing what I love most: teaching. I'm a past president of the trade group Public Relations Professionals of Long Island and serve on the advisory board of the Museum of Public Relations. I'm also an active member of several professional organizations, and serve as faculty adviser to Hofstra's Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter. I was honored to receive the 2016 Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award from Hofstra's Lawrence Herbert School of Communication.

While I'm immensely happy to play a role my students' achievements, I'm most proud of my four adult children, their significant others, and my two adorable grandsons. A native of Massapequa Park, N.Y., my wonderful wife Tema and I live in Great Neck, N.Y. with our high-maintenance beagle, Toby.